Walleyes on big lures

[nathenpd]

While up in canada earlier this month, I was so surprised at the number of walleye I have caught while fishing for pike on lure like super shad raps, and magnum 18's. Is this common?

[Bodeen]

Big fish like big food. The bigger the meal the less energy they expend chasing little meals.

[shadrap712]

Yes. In the fall of the year I like F-18 and HJ-14. You don't get many bites but you better be ready for the one that does.

[dutchie]

Here in The Netherlands that is pretty commen. Last week we caught this 34 inch Walleye on a 9 inch Relax Shad. Fish was really big, weight around 12 Pound. Ten minutes later we caught another one 32 inch but at least as heavy as the first one. Fish was also caught on a 9 inch Relax shad.

[eyefishermandt]

yes its common for them to eat big in the fall. happens here in pa all the time!

[kelloggz1]

nice looking eye's you caught there... the biggest lures i caught walleye off was the biggest xrap they got.. it was right before the ice was thawing out in the great lake.. walleye was 31inches pushing 10lb.. been 4 years already that i caught a 10+lber.. need to break that record soon..

[sfw1960]

I showed a guy at work once a #10 X-Rap we were using on walleyes & he said " that's kinda big, ain't it??"
I couldn't help but laugh by butt off...
The #12 & #14 HJ's hang the little males all day long!
A 6" bait is NOTHING for one of the big girls to chomp on.

[hot0n0tot]

Totally agree, I have caught 3 walleye over 30", granted im only 20, and all of them have been on smithwick suspending rogues. Big fish will always eat big baits.

Keenan

[Paul Cutler]

There is a reason to use big baits in the fall of the year and not the spring. It is not because walleye prefer big baits in the fall of the year to the spring but rather with all the fry in the water they are use to seeing much smaller bait to feed on then the larger baits we all use in the fall.

I have seen walleye's hit the surface to take big chomps out of perch fry that was only three feet off the shore line. Sure is frustrating when you can see them doing this all afternoon, evening and in the morning and cannot get a bit.

It doesn't matter sometimes whether you are using a crank bait from small to very large, spoon, net, live bait or dynamite. They just aren't going to hit sometimes when they are so use to seeing a certain kind of bait in the water.

Big water in the spring generally doesn't pose as big of a challenge when it comes to catching but the same rules apply. There is a lot of bait in the water.

Generally we have the most luck in the spring before most fish have spawned. It still is not a large bait bite though. You may catch the occasional walleye with a large bait in the spring from time to time but nothing like how often it will happen in the fall of the year.

Spring and summer is a smaller to mid bait. Fall and winter are large baits but will still be more then happy to hit a smaller bait.

Good luck but this is one of the big reasons you are having so much luck in the fall of the year with your big baits. Not to mention these big females are trying to put on as much weight as possible to sustain their eggs for the spring.

You can find tips on walleye's Here, but this is also a place to get fantastic information. I have sent many people to this site. Good Luck.

[shadrap712]

We also use big baits right after ice out (before anything spawns). They are still looking for a good meal at this time. When all of the young of the year hatches going smaller is a good way to get strikes but I would say going aggressive is a better. Walleyes are always feeding within a lake. You just have to find the active school. The window they feed in is less in time and space as they don't have to work for their food as much. Ripping a spoon, jig, blade bait, and so on type of bait can be very good at getting reluctant biters to go after. You want to rip it to the point that you think it is too much and then go harder. This will drive them crazy.

[fireman1979]

Unfortunatly I've never caught a Zander (walleye) on a big lure before, seems like I don't have the time and effort to use the bigger and deeper lures to fish for them, due to I want to catch more fish haha

[fishohio614]

I will have to keep this in mind when I go to Canada in a few weeks. I have been stocking up on SSR-14 for pike, will be interesting to see if walleye will hit them.

[riverrat]

A walleye will feed on any baitfish up to 1/3 it's length. During the fall run here in Michigan I run #13 Rap's and have caught walleye with 8 inch gizzard shad in their belly.